After issuing an official statement, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe">SCEE may expect another problem for themselves as the delay of the PS3 in PAL territories will definitely put another dent in Sony's stock. According to James Hong, Head of Equity Derivatives Trading at Dresdner Kleinwort in Tokyo, Sony's stock fell 50 yen(about 1%) to 5,050 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This setback is the latest after Sony suffered a major overhauling in its electronics operation to catch up in key electronics products such as MP3 digital music players. Lest we forget, Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc issued huge recalls of their defective laptop batteries made by one of Sony's subsidiaries, Sony Energy Devices Corp.

Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Ken Kutaragi dropped another bomb, telling reporters that although the company is sticking to its intial global target of 6 million PlayStation 3 machines by March, 2007, far fewer machines will be available for the launch dates in Japan and the U.S. because of the production problem. About 400,000 PlayStation 3 machines will be available in the U.S. for the November 17 launch date and 100,000 will be available for Japan on November 11 this year.

The sales delay is caused by a shortage in a key component in the Blu-ray disc laser part of the PS3. "We've been working hard to try to tackle the problem, but we see the delay is inevitable," Kutaragi told reporters.